Ancient Edge Tanto

A

Arkham_Drifter

Joined
Apr 25, 2001
Messages
98
Does anyone know what became of the Tanto manufactured by the company Ancient Edge. What ever became of the company for that matter?

You may recall seeing ads several years ago touting the design features of this tactical tanto. I was just curious.

Thanks

[This message has been edited by Arkham_Drifter (edited 06-07-2001).]
 
At one time Ancient Edge ran a very insulting ad for their tanto, the Hissatsu. I posted about it here; the ad ran something like, "You've never been a knife fight, you've never had to protect your family, and you've never been tested. We can tell by the knives you buy." The implication being that a real Tactical Macho Guy would run right out and buy a Hissatsu so he'd have a real man's knife.

(The fact that the Hissatsu had no guard whatsoever always made me wonder about its suitability for combat of any kind, but there you go.)

A quick search turned up an archived (cached) web page on Google, but the company's website doesn't exist anymore. Here's the contact info that was listed:

Telephone: 1.800.551.0440
Fax: 760.736.9225
Address: 1070 Commerce ST., Suite "I", San Marcos, CA. 92069
General Information: info@ancientedge.com
Sales: order@ancientedge.com
Customer Support: support@ancientedge.com

I know the Hissatsu was featured in American Handgunner, but that was some time ago. It's possible the company's out of business.

-Razor


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me-4.jpg

AKTI #A000845
 
Seems to me that they actually posted here once. They talked about how the "slashing and stabbing indexes were off the charts" or something close to that. When asked by several forumites which "index and chart" they were referring to, Ancient Edge seemed to take great offense. Guess you just supposed to believe that stuff because they said so
tongue.gif




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Richard Todd - Digital knife photography
My WebSite
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">
There are less than 1200 Hissatsu in the field as of July '99.
</font>
Click to expand...

One can only hope there aren't many more.

The incredible arrogance and ignorance displayed by the Ancient Edge mouthpiece is about on par with the initial ad that prejudiced me against the company and the product.

I'm not surprised they've disappeared from the Web.

-Razor

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me-4.jpg

AKTI #A000845
 
i had one during the Spring of 1999 and handed it back to the Dealer [I had an option to buy, I was checking it out] at the Blade Show in Atlanta that year.

Right off the bat, for a $300.00 knife, it looked like Barney Rubble finished the blade.

As for all of the Hoo-Hah about how much of a "killer" that blade style is, yeah yeah...[groan] so is an icepick and a razor knife in their respective classes...thrust and cut.

The handle was Funk-A-Delic with an accent on the FUNK part. It seems they were trying to duplicate an "Ancient" look with the grip and then paid absolutely no attention whatsoever to the finish of the blade.

If you could have seen that blade...you want to talk about grain? It was a feed silo. Grain out the poop tube and it was a horrible finish...

Apparently no one who was making them ever heard of these two words...

BUFFER WHEEL.

It was razor sharp and had a needle point.

It was an interesting knife and would have been a steal at $80.00 it was a $100.00 knife, tops. And that's if you wanted it after you felt the grip, examined the scabbard and could get by the Air Raid Siren that went off in your head after you looked at the finish...

With the sheath, they were trying to duplicate a Japanese Saya in function. Not so good. They should have just stuck with Kydex.

The sheath would have made a good, Official™ Navy SEAL Snorkel if they had placed a mouthpiece at the bottom. [insert groans here]

As for their Advertising...you can get gas at Chi-Chi's easily...why read that drivel?

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Usual Suspect
Ipsa scientia potestas est aut disce aut discede
Some of my Knives and other neat things
 
It sure has! Heaven help the arrogant fool that incurs the wrath and wit of the mighty Bladeforums!!
biggrin.gif
 
And the real beauty to me is that my opinion of them has not changed in three years!

Professor.
 
Wow, I guess that explains why I haven't heard a thing about them for the past two years.

I checked out the old thread. Yikes!

I remember the ad. They must have thought that they would meet their numbers by gaining a core market of Military and Law Enforcement and that the civilian market wasn't necessary. If this was not their plan then they simply alienated the lion's share of the tactical knife market for no reason other than arrogance...A fatal tactical business decision it seems.
 
The problem with them is one that has also become apparent in a few other companies, makers and dealers. They come here with one purpose only, and that is to sell something. They have no interest or desire in participating or contributing any information. The register here and the only posts are sales pitches. I wont but from somebody that thinks we are that stupid. I also love how Ancient Edge figured we were just little idiots waiting to fall for such a stupid sales pitch.

I'll bet a dollar that when they were around, somebody said "hey, I know how to sell a few knives. Go log onto that Bladeforums thing and post the pitch there. Those guys will be knocking down our door to buy this".

Guess they figured we would all be real impressed when we read 'slash index', and mission specific sheath would excuse its poor construction.



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Richard Todd - Digital knife photography
My WebSite
 
Good Point Richard! I looked at the Ancient Edge threads about a month ago myself. Not really a hello, lets chat about knives, how do you sharpen your blades, or whatever. Just a marketing pitch! ANd when people asked questions, like "what is a slashing index", no response. This is a FORUM, after all! Oh well. I'm sure they learned their lesson.

Ancient Edge was really the Bugei Trading guys anyways. They are great at their sword business. Their tactical knife venture was a blunder, but I think they're busy doing other things!

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"Come What May..."
 
In the American Handgunner edition that had the multi-page feature article on the Hissatu, there was also a full color page ad for the knife.

Ever wonder about the relationship between big spashy articles and expensive color ads running in the same magazine?

Perhaps Ancient Edge's advertising budget was biting into the R&D budget.

[This message has been edited by Seth Thomas (edited 06-08-2001).]
 
Guys, in talking about this topic I began to recall seeing a former SEAL involved with the product at the time of its release. It turns out that this was in fact the case. I just did some checking with a source who is in the know regarding the background of this knife. There were several former SEALs from both coasts who were involved with this knife. They have since split and are heading up other projects such as combative schools.
Maybe their input was overlooked by the manufacturer along the way to development.

[This message has been edited by Arkham_Drifter (edited 06-08-2001).]
 
This is just atheory, but I think it has some merit. There are soooo many knives out that say "used by Seals, Green Berets and all other special forces types" and just as many that are "designed with input from SF" that it really gets old. First, there is nothing about SF that makes anybody an expert on knives just the same as being a cop does not make you an expert on guns.

I seem to remember an article in the old Fighting Knives magazine on the subject of 'used by seals'. They suggested that many companies make a knife, give a few to a couple of seals and PRESTO...the knife is "in use" by navy seals. If the aforementioned seals come back and say, "gee, mayby ya oughta make the guard about 1/16" longer" then BANG, the knife is designed with "input" from navy seals.

This is nothing more than advertising. It used to be original I guess, but now its so overdone that its insulting to think companies still try and make people fall for it.



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Richard Todd - Digital knife photography
My WebSite
 
First off let me clarify that I do not know the EXACT history or ASSOCIATION of people with this product. Far be it from me to expound on the credibility of those who designed it seeing as how I have no prior experience with them.

I guess the bottom line regardless of intended use is know what works for you. Maybe these guys designed a knife that they believed in and that fit their operational needs but the manufacturer's execution fell short. Heck if I know but its been interesting just finding some of this stuff out.

Richard, I hear you on the topic of Spec Ops product association. Some folks in this industry will use any excuse to mention secial operations and their product in the same breath. Often times this is by no intention of the guys in the spec ops community.

The NAVSPECWAR tests conducted back in the early nineties were a good example of how a maker could make legitimate mention of the spec ops involvement with a particular knife. Unfortunately for many makers the tests reflected poorly on their knife's performance. Its interesting that in this particular period of testing, the knife's evaluation criteria were primarily based on its function as a non combative, utilitarian tool.

With regard to military experience having a bearing on someone's knowledge of edged weapons use: I have found that guys who possess both a background in the spec ops community and an interest in knives make for grounded knife users. I my case I have always payed attention to what this class of knife user says regarding the issue.

[This message has been edited by Arkham_Drifter (edited 06-08-2001).]
 
The SpecOps Link to many things gets beat into the ground. I'll give you an example;

It makes some people think bad of Ernie because of the "connection," yet that "connection" with Naval SpecWar Groups is documented and people get their drawers in a knot over it blasting Ernie for it.

Part of the reason for that is because of stuff like this.

From what I heard, Sensei Don Angier had some input on the blade of this knife. To me, that carries alot more weight than however many SEALs were involved in the design of it.

The problem was not the blade, although the promotion of some sort of Wizard of Oz "Slash Index" or whatever the hell they were talking about, is pure nonsense.

The knife's blade finish was nasty. SpecWar? I would think if several SpecWar Guys had alot of input, the finish would have made no difference as the blade would have been black coated...right?

The knife was, as I stated earlier [and in fairness] hair popping sharp and had a needle point. If Bob Egnath [RIP, Great Man] had input along with Mr. Angier, a Tanto is not likely to get better than that...is it?

I don't think anyone could find a better Duo, even if they did not work "side by side," to design a Modern Tanto.

But at that price tag, it was simply a toad.

The grip was funky and the sheath was double funky.

I also understand that pure tradition (remember the name, "Ancient Edge") can get in the way of practicality. True, a guardless knife is less of a pain on the draw, that is a no brainer. But that matters when it comes to concealment and not in a Military Context of someone that does not have to concern themselves with a guard being hung up in clothing. They would be carrying it on web gear or an assault vest, etc... SO, the knife in question should have had a guard...

The knife had alot of potential, it was blown on ignorance and arrogance in my opinion. They should have finished the blade dark anyway, stuck with an excellent Kydex Rig instead of trying to do a Modern Saya and they should have done something better with the grip and added an integral guard or even a traditional oval tsuba would have been fine.

Quite frankly, had the knife featured these things, along with a Kraton Grip in the SAME exact dimensions that their grip was, it would have been a solid $200.00 knife. $300.00? I don't know, I never held one of those because it did not exist.

As it existed, it was a $100.00 knife...



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Usual Suspect
Ipsa scientia potestas est aut disce aut discede
Some of my Knives and other neat things
 
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